During the fall of 2011, I returned to my hometown of Saginaw, Mich., for the first time in almost three decades. Saginaw and Appleton have many commonalities.

Both are medium-size Midwestern cities with populations of western European heritage and both are Great Lakes communities. Appleton grew and prospered from paper manufacturing while Saginaw grew and prospered from automobile manufacturing.

The commonalities would indicate more portent cultural and economic similarities than existed when I lived in Saginaw or that exist today, and that's a good thing for Appleton.

We drove through my old neighborhood and it was depressing. The house where I once lived on the east side of the Saginaw River was occupied and looked nice. The houses on both sides of it were derelict. In fact, probably half of the houses were abandoned and derelict beyond repair.

The big three-story house on the corner where the rich people lived is now a decaying gray hulk perfect for filming a horror flick. There is no gentrification on the east side of Saginaw.

Why are two cities with so much in common so different today? What forces resulted in prosperity for Appleton and ruin for Saginaw?

Historically, Saginaw had a large disenfranchised minority population. Appleton did not have a minority population.

The great migration of African Americans to the industrial cities in the north went through Detroit, Flint and on to Saginaw in Michigan, but stopped at Milwaukee and Racine in Wisconsin. Appleton's population remained nearly 100 percent white until the arrival of the Vietnamese and Hmong in the late 1970s.

Saginaw relegated minorities to the 3rd Ward on the east side of the river. Few minorities lived on the west side. White people did not enter the 3rd Ward. It was considered a slum.

The jobs that minorities obtained in the automobile factories were at the bottom rung of the union job hierarchy. Those jobs provided a decent living but African Americans couldn't perceive any opportunities for improving their standard of living beyond the lower middle class.

My family lived on Saginaw's east side until I was in fourth grade. I attended an integrated school and had African American friends. They came to my house to play. My parents didn't allow me to go to their houses but, of course, I did anyway.

As minorities expanded their enclave closer to us, my dad moved my family to the west side. This process was called "white flight."

Saginaw is a typical example of 1960s discrimination in jobs and housing patterns. That's just the way it was.

In 1975, now with a family, I moved to Appleton. It was very different from any other place I had lived. The absence of diversity was striking and somewhat disconcerting. There were no slums.

Actually, that isn't quite true. I did learn of a slum called Koehnke's Woods. A longtime resident showed me where it used to be. It was cleaned up years ago and now Valley Transit is headquartered there.

More recently, Appleton had an isolated enclave of substandard housing on French Road. It was called the April Aire Mobile Home Park. When the owners failed to correct housing code violations, the city shut April Aire down and the property is now an empty field.

Areas of substandard housing simply by their existence degrade a community, as well as the area's unfortunate residents.

The question remains, why did fully half of Saginaw deteriorate into dereliction while Appleton was able to remove or rehabilitate housing and prevent the development of slum areas?

The shuttering of the automobile plants in Saginaw contributed significantly to the downfall of Saginaw, but Appleton also suffered mill shutdowns. There is a second, more insidious, cause of Saginaw's problems.

The disenfranchised African American minority perceived no economic hope or opportunity. Locked out of the political and economic systems that sustained comfortable living standards for the majority of residents, hopelessness reined and slums followed.

There's a parallel situation developing in Appleton. Our community's newest and fastest growing minority, Latinos, are often locked out of full opportunity due to immigration status. Lacking a legal basis for being in this country, they can't fully participate in our political and economic systems and may not perceive opportunities for improving their standard of living.

Even worse, they live outside of the legal protections of documented residents. This legal limbo leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination and is a recipe for enclaves of substandard and overcrowded housing.

It's a very short leap from a specific issue such as housing to a generalized list of the myriad issues that can result from disenfranchisement.

During the election, both presidential candidates promised "comprehensive immigration reform." Maybe it will happen; maybe it won't. Residents of the Fox River Valley don't have much influence over national immigration issues.

We do have influence over issues affecting Latinos living in the Valley, and we need to use that influence to promote economic success and ensure equal protection for all of our residents, both citizens and the undocumented.

Through enlightened public policy (i.e., local ordinances) and with full community effort (i.e., services), let's open the doors of opportunity for all.

Pragmatically, it's in everyone's best interest. Ethically, it's the right thing to do.

- Tom Franklin is an Appleton resident and a Post-Crescent Community Columnist. He can be reached at pcletters@postcrescent.com

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Tom Franklin column: Lessons for Appleton in Saginaw's decline

During the fall of 2011, I returned to my hometown of Saginaw, Mich., for the first time in almost three decades. Saginaw and Appleton have many commonalities.

A link to this page will be included in your message.

Join Our Team!

If you are interested in working for an innovative media company, you can learn more by visiting: